Georgia’s Foreign Agents Law: a Brief History of NGOs in the country

By Luca Guerzoni

On May 14th, the Georgian parliament approved – on the third reading – the Foreign Agents Law proposed by the Georgian Dream party, with 84 to 30 votes. This law forces all the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the media which receives more than 20% of funds from abroad to register as a foreign agent. By foreign agent it is intended as an organization that promotes the interests of a foreign country. This law only requires to declare the source of the funds and does not pose any restrictions in the activities of these NGOs. If those NGOs were not to disclose the information about the foreign funding, they will be fined 25,000 lari (USD 9,000), followed by additional fines of 20,000 Iari (USD 7,500) for each month of non-compliance. The Georgian government has claimed that the bill will promote transparency in funding sources and is intended as a step toward reducing corruption and ensuring accountability. Under this law, both Western-sponsored NGOs and Russian controlled media will equally need to register as ‘foreign agents’. 

The drafting and the passing of this law was met with a strong opposition of nearly 50,000 people, mostly youths, who gathered in the capital, Tbilisi, for several days and culminated with riots and several arrests. European and other Western governments expressed solidarity to the protests and threatened the Georgian Dream party of sanctions. In the Liberty Square of Tbilisi, the foreign ministers of Estonia, Lithuania and Iceland joined the protests, requesting the European Union’s anthem to be played and speaking with the protesters. Shalva Papuashvili, the President of the Georgian parliament, accused the presence of foreign politicians in the anti-government rallies of an attack on Georgia’s sovereignty. 

Those who oppose this bill call it “Russian Law’’, echoing a similar law enacted in Russia in 2012 and used to control foreign influence and to crush dissent. The fear of many critics of this bill is that the Georgian government could use it to crack down on dissidents and to erode civil liberties, distancing Georgia from its European dream. 

However, in order to understand the reasons behind the passing of this law, it is important to be aware of the history of NGOs in Georgia. The history of NGOs presence in Georgia goes back to the 1990s, when the President of the time, Edvard Shevardnadze, welcomed dozens of NGOs into Georgia in order to help him to draft a constitution and to shape a proper legal system. The lack of restrictions and the government inefficiency contributed to the infiltration of several NGOs, mostly funded by the European Union, the United States or private donors, such as the student-led Kmara, the Liberty Institute, and the Open-Society Georgia - Foundation. Many of these NGOs who overlooked these reforms are Georgian but they have access to Western embassies and resources and hold considerable power over the Georgian population, particularly the youths. 

A major example of the pivotal role of NGOs in Georgia was the 2003 Rose Revolution, where anti-government protests led to the peaceful overthrow of Edvard Shevardnadze and triggered new elections which culminated with the electoral victory of Mikheil Saakashvili. In that situation, the news channel Rustavi-2, the main broadcaster of the opposition party, played a major role in organizing the demonstrations. Rustavi-2 was financed and supported by USAID and the Eurasian Foundation. The 2003 Rose Revolution has always been considered a successful US foreign policy project and the government of Saakashvili and all its reforms since its rise to power has been always supported financially by the west. In fact, between 1992 and 2007, Georgia received $2.7 billion from the United States government alone. 

The relative openness of Georgian society in comparison to other post-Soviet countries and the election of Saakashvili turned Georgia into one of the major hubs for NGOs, lifting any regulations and controls on foreign-sponsored organizations from entering the country. 

Saakashvili began advancing liberal reforms in coordination with several Western-sponsored NGOs. Many of the reforms ranged from democratization and strengthening of territorial sovereignty, and aimed to seek a future Georgian membership of NATO and the European Union. During the presidency of Saakashvili, the relations with Russia soured and culminated in 2008 with the Russo-Georgian war, in which Russia and the Russia-backed breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia defeated the Georgian army on the ground. 

Increased authoritarian tendencies and several corruption scandals led to the end of the Saakashvili era in 2012 and since then, Georgia, under the lead of the Georgian Dream party, kept on pursuing EU and NATO membership, while pushing for a diplomatic reconciliation with Russia. 

Given this historical context and the Georgia constitution in which it is mentioned Georgia's aspiration to become a member of the EU, Georgia is a predominantly pro-Western country and plans to remain as such. The 2008 war and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine proved to Georgia that the West is not willing to intervene in their defense against Russia and, in addition to its self awareness of military inferiority towards Russia and not being a NATO member yet, pushed the Georgian Dream party to opt for a more conciliatory foreign policy with Russia, rather than increasing hostilities. This Foreign Agents Law, proposed by the Georgian Dream party, is just an example of how Georgia wants to pursue its European dream while protecting its sovereignty. Furthermore, similar laws were passed in the EU, as part of the Defense of Democracy Package in 2023, and in the USA, with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in 1938. The Defense of Democracy Package proposed by the European Commission also requires the registration of entities carrying out interest representation from a third country and was described by the EU Commission as a way to avoid foreign interference in the EU election. Similarly, the American equivalent, the FARA, also requires the registration of foreign-sponsored entities which act at the direction of foreign organizations with the Department of Justice and the disclosure of reports and copies of ‘informational materials’ that are distributed in the United States and the main reasons for it was to boost transparency on lobbying. Considering that similar laws were passed in the EU and in the USA, the Georgian parliament had called out the hypocrisy of Western governments in attacking Georgia's decision to pass this law. 

The EU threatened Georgia to stop its candidacy status if the law is not revoked and the United States is preparing packages of sanctions against Georgia. Such actions, in addition to the protests and the powerless veto of Georgia’s President Salomè Zourabichvili, put the Georgian parliament under a huge pressure. Going forward, the Georgian government has to prove its detractors wrong by not using this law to crack down on civil liberties and should engage with the dissenters in an open dialogue. Regarding the Western pressures on Georgia, the EU and the USA also have to acknowledge Georgia’s fear of becoming a new ‘Ukraine’ and to have another military confrontation with Moscow. More threatening rhetoric will only make Georgia more vulnerable to Russian influence and it is counterproductive for European and American interests. What is clear in this developing situation is that Georgia, by passing this law, is not choosing to become a pro-Russia satellite nor is it choosing to abandon its aspiration of EU and NATO membership. Georgia is choosing sovereignty stability.